Has anyone lost a well dressed, bilingual elephant in Brooklyn? Babar, yes that Babar, has been discovered in Bay Ridge, and his new human friends have posted this alert on Craigslist: more ›

Between the nearly indecipherable clock and that very shiny Andy statue, Union Square is no stranger to strange art (let alone strange people) so let's all give a New York welcome to the park's newest piece of public art! Miquel Barceló's 2008 piece Gran Elefandret, which is being set up today, will be living in the park through the end of May, 2012. more ›

[UPDATED BELOW] The Joplin, Missouri tornado story just got a little bit more depressing. The below video shows an elephant, handled by a half dozen men or so, dragging out cars from the wreckage. According to the Atlantic Wire, the Picadilly Circus was in town for a scheduled date—when the show was canceled, the elephants were repurposed. more ›

A woman from Long Island was trampled by a wild elephant in Kenya as she held her 1-year-old daughter in her arms. The child was also killed in the incident, which happened on Monday afternoon during a nature walk near the Castle Forest Lodge, where they were vacationing. Sharon Brown, 39, originally from Miller Place, Long Island, and her daughter, Margaux, were killed; Brown's husband and three other tourists survived. The Browns were in an area where hikers are advised to travel with an armed guard to defend them against stampeding elephants, but they were with an unarmed hotel guide. more ›

Yesterday morning the American Museum of Natural History unveiled an eight-foot-tall pink paper elephant, which briefly stood tall next to the Origami Holiday Tree! They tell use the giant pink paper pachyderm was created through "the paper-folding wizardry of celebrated origami artist Sok Song." The tree marks the start of the holiday season at the museum, and has been back year after year for over three decades. This year’s theme of Origami, A to Z, has the 13-footer covered with paper letters and alphabetically-corresponding objects from an A and an Apatosaurus to a Z and a zebra. Check it out before they take it down on January 3rd... but sadly, the elephant has left the building. more ›

The Ringling Bros. elephants (which Peta just caught on film being beaten by employees) are at the center of another controversy. Reportedly a Brooklyn Fire Dept. (Engine 245) had to close its firehouse for 30 minutes under city orders to bathe Suzie the elephant. The department says they wanted no part in the press event, saying, "What they did compromised that community; fortunately no one was hurt. Whoever at city hall decided to do this doesn't understand public safety and doesn't understand the role that firefighters play in public safety." more ›

In the warmup to today's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, yesterday there was the pachyderm vs. homosapien showdown over eating Nathan's Hot Dog Buns. And perhaps to no one's surprise, Ringling Bros. Circus elephants Bunny, Susie and Minnie ate 505 buns in six minutes—while Juliet Lee, Gravy Brown and Eric "Badlands" Booker could only chow down 143. Circus production manager Jason Gibson told the Daily News he was confident, "Our girls train every day. They eat 150 to 200 pounds of food a day. I knew they'd do fine," said Jason Gibson, circus production manager. more ›

There is, apparently, such as a ting as the World Elephant Polo Association--which is why a group of New Yorkers who are participating in a tournament in Nepal later this month were working on their polo skills. But since there were no pachyderms to be had, they had to do so on top of SUV rooftops in Jacob Riis Park. The NY Post sent a reporter to the scene: more ›

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Yesterday Javier Téllez brought some wildlife to McCarren Park Pool for a new project based on the blind men and the elephant. Beulah (pictured) is apparently "39 years old and loves gumdrops, apples and empty pools," not unlike many Greenpoint/Williamsburg residents (though a tad older). NYC Art in the Parks has more info on the Creative Time project:Javier Téllez, Games are Forbidden in the Labyrinth November 2007 McCarren Pool, Brooklyn Artist Javier Téllez brings... more ›